Athletes
'Money Moicano' Back In Business
Entertaining Lightweight Discusses Lengthy Career, Approach To His Craft Ahead Of Return To Action On Saturday
When he was 12 years old, Renato Moicano went to his father and told him what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“I told my father, ‘I want to be a UFC fighter’ and he laughed at me,” the Brazilian veteran said with a smile. “‘You’re never gonna do it. You don’t have it.’ I took that as a challenge, and everything I did was focused on that.”
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Thirteen years after expressing his ambitions to his father, Moicano made his UFC debut with a second-round submission win over Tom Niinimaki, and he’s been a fixture on the roster ever since. This weekend, the all-action lightweight returns to kick off his eighth year competing inside the Octagon in a must-see clash with Drew Dober.
“Now I’ve been in the UFC for eight years, and I’m still competitive,” said Moicano, who was a rankings staple at featherweight before relocating to lightweight and quickly assuming a position in the Top 15. “I’m still fighting the best, I still deliver, and the UFC knows they can count on me every time.
“Yesterday, I was 21 years old fighting, and I still feel the same, maybe even better, because each fight, I get more excited to get back,” he added. “My last fight was amazing, I hope my next fight is amazing, and I hope to build a bigger and better career going forward.”
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That last fight he mentioned was amazing — a first-round submission win over Brad Riddell to close out the prelims at UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden in New York City — but it was also well over a year ago.
In 2022, the American Top Team representative christened himself “Money Moicano,” adopting a “have fists, will travel” approach to his career that prioritized entertaining fights and a readiness to jump into battle at a moment’s notice.
He did so against Alexander Hernandez and won, stopping the Factory X man in the second round at UFC 271. Less than a month later, he was back, moving up to welterweight and landing on the business end of a one-sided decision against countryman Rafael Dos Anjos, and then in November, he was back in there and running through Riddell, positioning himself for even greater opportunities in 2023.
He was slated to face off with rising contender Arman Tsarukyan at the end of April but was forced to withdraw after suffering a major knee injury that put him on the sidelines and pressed pause on his momentum.
“It is what it is,” he said, borrowing the oft-used phrase of former featherweight kingpin Max Holloway. “I don’t control life. I’m getting older — I’m 34 now — and I’m a father, a family man, and you realize that there are things in your life you cannot control, and injury is one of them. I just focus on being the best that I can in every aspect of my life.
“At the end of the day, of course I would like to fight Tsarukyan — and probably, one day I will if we keep winning. It’s disappointing for me because I wanted to prove myself against him, but, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.
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“I’m in the UFC, I love this sport, and Saturday, I have a tough opponent to beat,” he added. “He’s a tough fighter, but I believe in myself, and I think I will beat him."
This weekend’s pairing with Dober is the type that hardcore fans circled on their calendars — or would have if anyone still used actual calendars — the moment it was announced.
Though he hasn’t adopted a comparable nickname, the 35-year-old Dober has a similar approach as the man he’ll share the Octagon with on Saturday, prioritizing matchups that will produce exciting, entertaining fights above all else, and delivering just that more often than naught.
Renato Moicano | Rear Naked Choke Artist
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Renato Moicano | Rear Naked Choke Artist
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Over the last four years, the handsome Nebraska native has posted a 6-3 record, with all but one of those fights — his pairing with Riddell at UFC 263, which earned Fight of the Night honors — ending inside the distance. After landing on the wrong side of things in May against Matt Frevola, Dober bounced back with a first-round stoppage win over Ricky Glenn in October, adding another post-fight bonus to his bank account while forcing his way back into the lightweight rankings.
But this one isn’t about rankings; this is simply two battle-tested, “all gas, no brakes” veterans stepping into the Octagon with one another to put on a show.
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“It makes sense to be Drew Dober because we’re close in the rankings, he’s a fun fighter, and I’m a fun fighter,” Moicano said of the matchup, which serves as the co-main event on Saturday evening. “This is a business: sometimes you win, but you don’t convince, so you have to go out there and make a statement. It’s about (taking advantage of) the opportunity the UFC gives you.
“I think the performance has to speak for itself,” he added. “You have to have a great performance, you have to talk and get the most of what the UFC offers you, and that’s what I’m trying to do. I will go over there, have a fun fight, make it fun, and finish him.”
More than two decades after declaring to his father that he wanted to be a UFC fighter, and nearly a decade into living his dream, Moicano is grateful for all that he’s been able to build for himself and his family, and eager to make the walk again this weekend.
“Ah man, let me tell you: I’m ready to fight,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. “I am ready to fight. I had a good training camp. I’ve had a year working on my knee, working on my skills, working on everything, so I just want to get to the Octagon and perform.”
And should his three-year-old son come to him with the same plan for his life that he brought to his father all those years ago, then what?
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“Now that I have a son, I understand (my father) because what are the odds to make a living being a fighter?” he said, laughing. “That’s very hard, but when you’re young and you want to pursue your dreams, you don’t think about that.
“I completely understand my father, and I wish I had finished law school because knowledge is a powerful thing.
“But I would support him 100 percent in things that I think are good for him, and I think MMA is good for him, even if he’s not becoming a professional fighter,” he said in regard to his son. “You have to know how to defend yourself, and the discipline, the self-esteem that martial arts gave me, I want him to experience that, even if he doesn’t want to be a professional fighter.
“If he wants it, who am I to say no?” he added, “but it’s too soon to tell.”
UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs Imavov took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 3, 2024. See the final Main Card & Prelim Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
